Results

MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama women's tennis sophomore Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia) came back from a first-set loss to clinch the Jaguars' 4-2 victory vs. St. John's Wednesday morning at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Jags continue their unbeaten start to the season at 8-0—the program's best start since 2008—while the Red Storm drop to 5-3.

"I'm obviously glad that we won," USA head coach Jaco Keyser said. "We didn't play the best tennis, really, but just like against Central Florida, I thought we outcompeted and outfought this team.

"We came out ready to play. It's cold and you aren't going to play your best tennis, but we stayed the course and slowly, but surely, started playing better tennis. On days like today, it all comes down to how hard you compete and it's good to see us on the right side of it."

Meszarosova, playing at No. 1, dropped the first set to Khrystyna Pavlyuk 6-4 and was down 3-0 in the second before winning in a tiebreaker 9-7. Meszarosova dropped just one game in the third to finish off the victory.

"That was a monster effort," Keyser said. "She's matured so much in the last year. She's a great competitor and just stayed the course. Towards the end of the second set and the start of the third, she started playing some really good tennis."

The two teams started with singles and none of the first five results went three sets. South Alabama grabbed a 3-1 lead after freshmen Laura Valkova (Piestany, Slovakia) and Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.), and sophomore Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Colombia) claimed straight-sets wins.

"Between Mitta and Valkova, we have some confidence going," Keyser noted. "Hopefully we can keep it going because those were two quality matches out there. Paula always gives herself a chance at No. 6, so I hope that continues and we get better in some other spots."

Valkova struck first with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Nastya Polyakova at No. 2, and after a St. John's win at No. 5, Sanchez topped Stephanie Elgegren 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6, and Mitta dispatched Diamond Adams 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4.

St. John's pulled within 3-2 after Anna Morozova's 6-4, 7-5 victory over junior Emily Newton (Dothan, Ala.) on the No. 3 court and looked to send the match to doubles before Meszarosova's comeback.

The Jaguars head north to Birmingham for matches at Samford on Friday and UAB on Saturday.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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